Did I commit a shirk?

Question

Dear brother and sister,

Assalamu alaikum

I have a question about shirk for which i need an answer immediately because my heart is still very confused and lot of negative thinking coming on my mind. During my maghrib prayer, after reciting surah al fatiha I started to recite surah al bayniaha(note: I have only memorised 5 ayah of this surah). During the reciting of 5th ayah I forgot the fifth ayah. I could remember only one word from the ayah and my mom was standing beside me. I felt ashamed for not remembering even only one ayah. Then I skipped it and in the next rakah I recited the surah again but this time I was able to recite it without forgetting.

1. Does my act became a minor shirk?

2. Does minor shirk also delete all your good deeds?

Answer 1

What happened to you happens also to many people, it isn't an act of shirk. And what you have done is the correct manner to complete your prayer. See also posts like What to do if I forget how to recite an ayah during prayer? only mistakes in the recitation of surat al-fatiha are an issue.

Just to explain: shirk means believing that any thing else except Allah our Creator can do you any harm or good without Allah's help.

For example shirk is if you wear an amulet believing it would keep you save and prevent you from evil eye or from any harmful things that may happen to you: accident, illness, death!

This was clearly not the case here.

There's no minor or major shirk (unless you understand anything leading to shirk as a minor shirk) as shirk is the worst thing you could fall in as a Muslim, and it is the only bad thing we may do or commit which Allah wouldn't forgive (if we don't repent from it before our death).

Because of (4:48) and (4:116):

Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills.

Answer 2

Not shirk at all, be at ease. You can't be held responsible beyond your capabilities, especially if you unintentionally forgot. Above all else Allah is Merciful and Forgiving. So be at peace young brother, you are doing fine.

And happy new year!

Answer 3

No. It is not.in brief Shirk is association with Allah, claiming or thinking He has partners.

Types of shirk

Shirk akbar- major shirk Shirk asghar - minor shirk

Major Shirk Calling/ believing that Allah has a partner or associate of any type, or sharing some or all of Allah’s attributes or names- a negation of sifat or asmaa. Example to claim He has a son/mother or partner etc

Minor Shirk Certain acts are classified as indirect, subcategory or a potential leader to Major shirk, or might be participating partially in what is Major Shirk, minor shirk has three types: Heart-acts shirk Doable-acts Verbal-acts

heart acts Things that take place due to some belief in the heart Examples: Believing someone can benefit you or harm you, or has powers that Only Allah has.

Doable-acts Examples: Using jinn, magic, visitings graves and supplicating to the dead

Verbal-acts

Eg: Some people swear by things they own or love, other than Allah.

As you can see you did none of above mentioned categories. So don’t worry make istighfar and Allah is forgiving :)